Indian treats cool the end of summer

Chefs Dillu Kumar (left) and Hemant Biradar add spices to fruit chaat. [Photo by Anne Ruisi/chinadaily.com.cn]

Some Indian foods have a well-earned reputation for mouth-watering spiciness, but not all will set your taste buds on fire.

Hemant Biradar, guest chef at the Fairmont Beijing, proves cooling foods are just as delicious. Biradar, who with his assistant Dillu Kumar works at the hotel's sister property in Jaipur, India, is presenting an Indian Food Festival at the Beijing hotel's Lunar 8 restaurant through Aug 31. Indian specialties such as curry, biryani, lassi and fruit chaat, or salad, are available on the restaurant's lunch buffet or a la carte at dinner.

While heat levels in spicy foods can be controlled by the cook, the ingredients in fruit chat and mango lassi are cooling to the body and act to balance hotter foods in a meal, Biradar said during a recent cooking demonstration in Lunar 8's kitchen. These cooling foods taste good and feel good as the summer wanes, yet still packs a hot and humid punch.